title: Theologies, ideologies and evolutionary biology.
abstract: Since a century evolution has mostly been interpreted by two simple, "opposite" kinds of "theories"  i.e. as due either to fitness differences among genotypes or to some other simple mechanism  while bona fide, more complex theories were less popular throughout. In particular by far the most complete theories ever produced were suddenly, almost universally abandoned just after World War II, though not as a consequence of major breakthroughs. The causes of this situation are examined by analogy with much earlier developments and their demise by Cartesianism. The down to earth solutions these "complete" theories provide to the problems of "speciation" and the origins of cells are contrasted with the "miraculous" approaches by systemic neo-Darwinists.
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Genetica Biochimiva ed Evoluzionistica, Via Abbiategrasso 207, 27100 Pavia, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Scudo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002477:Cells; D002835:Christianity; D019359:Knowledge; D000069497:Origin of Life; D010684:Philosophy; D010944:Plants; D028725:Theology